Ray  I'd be very interested in why you feel Gary Keller would/does not promote activity such as SEO..... 

Looking forward to your response.

AnthonyClarkRealtor.com

Hi Anthony, I don't know what Gary Keller has to say specifically about SEO, but I do know that he says in his book that:

• Marketing to "mets" produces at the rate of 2 transactions per 12 names per year.
• Marketing to "unmets" produces at the rate of 1 transaction per 50 names per year

That's an eight fold advantage from marketing to "mets".

Consequently, regardless of what he might have to say about SEO, I think he'd tell you to get your "met" marketing systems in place first.

Gave you a "5" Ray.

Succeeding requires working with people, meeting people, touching regularly, and building a relationship of trust and confirming their consciousness of their Realtor. 

People, people, people.  People make the world go round.  The internet is a spoke in the wheel, not the hub.  That won't change.

Good organic results placement is great if you have the time to put into SEO.  I've gotten a huge amount of prospects from my site being on Google's first page.  I haven't closed many, but the ones I have closed have more than paid for my seo efforts AND they have become a new sphere.  Prospecting is touching lots and lots of people.  Good SERPs is just one way.

Interesting thoughts.

As a techie I agree with you. 

Nothing beats the human touch.  

Real Estate transactions are related to attachment, emotion and fear because of the amount of money involve, and life spent in certain location.  I believe that the best way to soften these barriers and to connect with customers is to physically meeting them.  I will be testing door knocking this year as opposed to sending cards and posting advertisements.  We can talk again next year.

Mario 

You make valid points Ray, and I don't disagree.

 However, does that not sum up the new Web 2.0 strategy?  1.0 is concerned only with conversions, while 2.0's focus is building relationships... turning strangers into friends.

 Also, there are many ways to use the net effectively to build relationships without having a top 10 serp.

 I'm really curious to see where search marketing is headed in the future.  In my opinion, Google is fighting human nature.  One part of human nature is the subconcious desire to achieve the best result possible.  Therefore people are always going to be looking for ways to "get an advantage" over the rest of the pack. 

Nothing beats relationship building, but it also doesn't hurt to have a new avenue to generate interest in your business.  I am a huge google searcher so would definitely hit the top 5 sites that come up in my search results.

I just created a new group relating to these issues...will you please post this topic in http://activerain.com/groups/webdesign101 also?

As a side note to my request, I agree with you. If you shoot for the stars and can't hit them then don't shoot. Your time and money is much more valuable elsewhere with a higher ROI.

Great post! I disagree with the premise of why bother.

Jim Crawford

Is it not a fact today that the majority of people arel ooking onl ine for properties and real estate agents. If you don't come to the party you'll be missing out on a huge number of leads.

If you really want to succeed, and not just to hear what you want to hear, you need a social media hub, like active rain, of your own, to target your demographic marketplace.

 Lean more at http://socialmediasystems.com/

If you don't have the people skills you are right the other won't matter.

Hmmm....this post gave me pause.  I actually DO rank in the #1 position for some of the local search terms.  But I am better served by actually building some relationships instead of some links.

Thanks! 

depend on what you are SEOing, for me Toronto Real Estate or Toronto Realtor is a waste of time to try and raise my status but do you not think that people who you just meet and are considering using you as there agent, won't google you.  I think SEO of your own name is very important, as people now are able to look you up.

I agree with Rob.  And with a little knowledge anyone can get their page ranked on the first page. I did and it didn't cost me a dime.  Lots of reading and updating, but no money.

Absolutely amazing, how do correct people who are that wrong?  Your own name is easy, great your own name you can do on your own, wow!  Obviously the truth is not welcome here: good luck making yourselves feel better about no business off the web!  People do not shop for a realtor, they do not care what your name is: they look for houses, neghborhood information, a specific number of bedrooms and bathrooms on a specific street, mls listings.  But what would I know, I only have about 600 real estate agents as past and present clients.

Ray, I was new in my current hometown and had no real local sphere of influence, so online presense became my way of competing and it has paid off.  If local networking works for some, then take that avenue and run with it.  If by circumstance you find yourself needing more contacts, then internet placement is important.  I say, balance... 'ya gotta have balance.

On-line is the new yellow pages! Yellow pages is on-line now too...that should say something to the value of the Internet in itself. Before the days of the Internet, the yellow pages is where everyone went to look something up. Today, that is Google, Yahoo, and msn.com. If someone is looking for a new real estate agent they most likely will go on-line and type in "Realtors in 'city, state.'" If your web-page is not in the first 5-10 of the results, they are not calling you.

Yes, I have more yellow pages metaphors...

The flashy, colorful, and full page adds in the yellow pages always were the attention grabbers. It seemed that the best add would most likely be the one I would call first. This also applies to websites. If your web-page was number one on a Google search, but it looks bad and is difficult to navigate, your potential lead has moved onto site two.

If you're not on the top of the pile then yes you absolutely need to market in a different direction, or hire a real SEO. If you are on top of the pile however you are probably seeing results from your efforts - thus it definately makes it worth it.

How much worth it?
Well that all depends on the results. If a high end client came through your search engine optimized site and that client was one that became recurring business - that could mean a whole lot.

All marketing is a gamble. So far I have gotten great results from my SEOptimized sites as I am a SEOptimizer. And as we know 84%+ of first time home buyers are starting on the internet. This stat will continue to increase as time goes on.

Where do most of these 84% of first time home buyers start? A Search Engine. 50% of those start at Google. 80% of those only look at the first page. IMO there's a whole lot of real estate business going on there. What's it worth to you to get in that loop?

I'm working on getting up in the Cambria Real Estate search - and so far AR has helped me a lot! I've been on AR for a couple weeks and my page is already on the bottom of page 1 and top of page 2. Though I have to admit my real estate market doesn't have stiff competition on the internet.

Great point!  Now I can take a break from this site...

O.K. I'm back. (Seriously though, your point truly does make me take a look at the time and effort put in)

Troy Heffner - Marina Del Rey, CA

Ray

Check out this post...anyone who agrees or disagrees needs to read it too

http://activerain.com/blogsview/112334/Numbers-too-Hard-to

Ray,

very interesting post and all the comments.  I agrree with what Teresa said you gotta have balance.  I believe your website is your silent partner working 24/7.